Separated outboard motor for boats



Oct. 11, 1960 Filed Ju'ne 6, 1958 W. MODES SEPARATED OUTBOARD MOTOR FORBOATS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. 11, 1960 w. MODES 2,955,562

SEPARATED OUTBOARD MOTOR FOR BOATS Filed June 6, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR.

WALTER MODES BYW I ATTOMY Patented Oct. 11, 1960 SEPARATED OUTBOARDMOTOR FOR BOATS WalterModes, 48 Valley View Terrace, Wayne, N. J. FiledJune 6, 1958, Ser. No. 740,412

6 Claims. Cl. 115-3 This invention relates generally to drive means forboats, and more particularly has reference to a drive means for smallboats such as pleasure craft over twelve feet in length, and cabincruisers, etc.

. The main object of the present invention is to provide a generallyimproved drive means'for a boat of the type described. Outboard motorsas conventionally .made have become increasingly powerful, and this hasnaturally added materially to the weight-of the motor, reducing theirportability so that many of them requirea hand truck and hoist foreaseinhandling.

Still further, the heavy Weight of such a motor, when attached to thetransom of the boat, makes the boat heavy at the stern, to such anextent as to sometimes cause an unoccupied boat to be swamped.

Further, when this type of outboard drive is installed on a cruiser,using the conventional inboard or fixed engine, dry dockingis eliminatedfor inspection and repair of propeller orsteering.

In view of the above, it is proposed to improve upon outboard motors andpropulsion, by producing a motor in separable, main components. Theprime mover, that is, theengine proper orpower head is one component andis placed inside the boat. The propulsion mechanism and steering means,commonly called the lower unit, remains as another component and isdisposed in its usual outboard position.

- It is proposed; further, to provide a mechanism of the type describedhaving an improved linkage between the inboard and outboard components,which linkage can be varied as desired by the manufacturer, but whichwill be designed to provide, under full control and with maximumefficiency, a highly 'efiicient'powerimeans for boats. e

-Another object is to provide an assemblyof the character describedwhich will be adapted for mounting on boats of various sizes, transomangles, etc., due to the provision of a novel support bracket that is,in effect,

almost self-adjusting to the particular boat on which it is to bemounted.

Still another object is to provide a drive means for boats of aseparable nature, wherein the separation of the componentsnot onlybreaks down the weight, so that no component is too heavy to handleindividually, but also, provides a construction wherein the repair ofany component can be effected with ease, without disturbing theremaining components. Inthis way, a particular component ofthedrivemeans that requires replacement or repaircan be removed, and can beplaced in .goodrepair or if desired fully replaced, without requiringreplacement of the-remaining components.

.Still another object is to provide a construction of the character.described which will, still have the .desirable feature found .inconventional ,outboard motors, of a. hinged lower .unit, withitsprotective skeg, accessibility and its resistance to underwaterdamage.

Other objects are to provide for jcomplete portability," although'whereportability is of noconcern, installation can be made with drive shaftthrough transom; the elimination of holes for installation in the boatitself; a minimum strain upon the transom; an arrangement wherein themotor and the drive unit will not extend as far above the deck line asis true of conventional outboard motors; improved Weight distribution bylocation of the prime mover forwardly from the transom; the adaptabilityfor mounting of the motor on higher transoms than is possible withconventional outboard motors; the adaptability for constructing theassembly in a manner such that a separate rudder installation is notrequired; and the adaptability of providing increased safety, inrelation to the size and power rating of the motor.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects andadvantages thereof, reference will be had to the following descriptionand accompanying drawings, and to the appended claims in which thevarious novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of the rear portion of "a boatequipped with boat driving means embodying the present invention, partsbeing shown in section and parts being shown in elevation.

' Fig. 2 is a perspective View of the supporting bracket assembly of thedevice, mounted in the boat, the boat being illustrated fragmentarilyand in perspective.

Fig. 3 is a slightly enlarged, fragmentary, exploded perspective viewshowing the connection of the base and upright members of the supportingbracket.

Fig. 4 is a still further enlarged, detail sectional view substantiallyon line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

. Fig. 5 is an enlarged, sectional view substantially on line 55 of Fig.1.

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view, on the same scale as Fig. 5,taken on line 66 of Figure 1.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged perspective view of the adjustable connectingmeans extending between the motor and driving unit.

Fig. 8 is a still further enlarged, transverse sectional viewsubstantially on line 88 of Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a modified arrangementof drive connection between an inboard fixed engine and an outboarddrive unit, the boat being in longitudinal section.

Referring to the drawings in detail, designated generally at 10 is asmall watercraft, such as a cabin cruiser, large rowboat, etc. The boatincludes the hull 12 having the transom 1-4.

The device constituting the present invention has been generallydesignated at 16, and is provided with a support bracket assemblygenerally designated at 17. The

. diate their ends with upstanding, generally rectangular ears 20 havingtransversely aligned openings 22. Bracing the members 18 in their properpositions is an X-b'race comprising rods 24, having flattened endssecured by rivets 25 or the like (see Fig. 4) to the respective members18. Members '18 may be secured to the hull by means of the screws 26 orequivalent means, and can be left p'ermanently attached to the hull eventhough the motor proper is removed from time to time.

Adjacent the transom, members 18 are formed with upstanding, segmentalplates 28.

The bracket assembly 17 also includes .a pair of transversely aligned,identical, upwardly projecting connect,- ing arms 30 formed at theirlowerends with segmental plates 32 juxtaposed in face-to-face contactwith the plates 28. Arms 30 are disposed in contact with the transom 14,and are pivotally connected to the respective, corresponding basemembers 18 by means of screws 34 and nuts 35. The screws extend througharcuate slots 36 of plates 32, and through openings 38 of plates 28.

Thus, arms 30 can swing to any of a plurality of selected, adjustedpositions, in each of which they are in contact with the surface of theparticular transom on which they are mounted. The bracket assembly,thus, is self-adjusting to different transom angles.

Extending in longitudinally contacting relation to the upper endportions of the arms 30 are clamp arms 40, and formed in the overlappingportions of the arms 30, 40, are registered longitudinal slots 42receiving bolts 44. Clamp arms 40 are thus connected to the arms 30 formovement longitudinally of the arms 30. This permits adjustment of theclamp arms to selected heights above the bottom of the boat, thereby toprovide for adjustment to different transom heights.

Above the arms 30, the clamp arms 40 are formed with outwardly offset,enlarged portions 46, having threaded openings receiving clamping bolts48, having swiveled feet 49 adapted to bear against the transom, andhaving wing nuts 51 to facilitate rotation thereof.

Above the enlargements 46, the clamp arms 40 have rearwardly projectingextensions 50 integral at their rear ends with depending, elongated,downwardly tapering clamping jaws 52 disposed in aligned confrontingrelation to the swiveled feet of the respective clamp bolts 48. Byreason of this arrangement, it will be seen that the arms 30 arepermitted to swing against the transom, after which the extensions 50and clamping jaws are positioned in straddling relation to the top ofthe transom, with the bolts 48 then being threaded toward the transom tofirmly clamp the device to the transom.

A cross pin 54 is extended through transversely aligned openings in theclamping jaw 52, and provides a pivotal connection between the bracketassembly and the outboard drive unit, around which connection theoutboard unit may swing in a vertical plane, under certain circumstancesto be described hereinafter.

A short rod 56 has a flattened outer end extending between and pivotallyconnected to perforated ears 57 projecting rearwardly from a motor 58 orequivalent prime mover. A tubular member or sleeve 59 is provided, andas seen in Figure 5, rod 56 and member 59 have threads of opposite handextending into a turnbuckle sleeve or nut 60 internally threadedcomplementarily to rod 56 and member 59.

An elongated connecting rod or shaft 61 is slidable at one end in themember 59.

Extending through transversely aligned openings of the shaft 63. andsleeve 59 is a shear pin 62, having weakened portions, so thatordinarily the shaft and sleeve are held against telescopic movement.However, in circumstances to be described in detail hereinafter, the pinis intended to shear, permitting the shaft 61 to telescope to a fur therextent within the sleeve 59.

The shaft 61; is connected by a universal joint 65 to an arm 64 rigidwith a disc 65 rotatable in a horizontally disposed recess 66 formed inthe upper end of a vertically elongated, streamlined casting 68, havinga vertical bore 70 in which is disposed a shaft 72, the upper end ofwhich projects above the casting and above the transom and has a drivenpulley 74, about which is trained a belt 76 trained also about a drivepulley 78 of the drive shaft 75 of the portable motor 58 mounted uponthe bracket assembly inboard of the boat. Disc 65 rotates on thevertical shaft 72. Pulley 74 is slidably mounted on shaft 72. The motor58 is illustrated more or less diagrammatically, and would, of course,be of any suitable design sufiicient to drive the mechanism. It ismainly important, for the purpose of the present invention, that themotor has a casing or housing provided with depending perforated ears 91receiving transverse pins 93 extending through the ears 20 of basemembers 18 of the bracket assembly. One pin 93 can be used instead oftwo, so that the motor can be hinged on the bracket assembly.

The adjusting means shown in Figure 5 keeps the belt 76 under tension,and as will presently appear herein, the belt and pulley means shown isonly one way of driving the shaft 72. Any of various other ways can beemployed, such as flexible shafts, telescoping shafts with universals,etc.

In any event, as illustrated in Figure 1, shaft 72 at its lower end issecured to a bevel gear 80 meshing with a bevel gear 82, carried by astub shaft 84 extending rearwardly and carrying propeller blades 36.

The casting 68, which may be appropriately termed the propeller shaftbearing, is bodily swingable about a vertical axis for steering thecraft, that is, by swinging the casting to the right or left, thepropeller is correspondingly swung, so as to steer the craft.

Shaft 72 is journaled in rearwardly projecting arms of a substantiallyC-shaped bracket 94, and above and rearwardly from the bracket, thecasting has a perforated ear 96 through which is extended a steeringcable 98. The C-shaped bracket 94 is pivotally connected to jaws 52 bypin 54.

Adjustment of the angle of the lower unit in the vertical plane may beaccomplished by means of a rod 85 extending across the jaws 52. andremovably seated in a selected pair of aligned holes 87 in the jaws.

The steering cable has knots 99 at opposite sides of the ear 96 toprevent displacement thereof. Other steering means could be providedalternatively, if desired, as for example a steering arm extending overthe transom of the boat.

In lateral swinging of the casting 68 during steering, shaft 72comprises the pivot axis, so that the distance between the drive pulley78 and the driven pulley 74 remains constant, creating no slack in thebelt 76. Pulley 74- slides on shaft 72 during the swinging operation ifnecessary on vertical swinging of the casting when the skeg 100 strikesan obstruction.

In any event, any of various well-known mechanical devices can beemployed for the purpose of preventing the creating of slack in the belt76 in the circumstances, as for example, a spring-biased tensioningroller or idler. If the casting swings vertically, drive is maintained,except if the angle of the casting in a vertical plane is toopronounced. At this time, the belt might slip off or go completelyslack. This is desirable, however, since the drive should not continuein such circumstances.

During steering and normal driving of the outboard unit, no torque isexerted on the connecting assembly generally designated 67, since thedisc 65, bracket 94, and casting 68 are all relatively rotatable aboutthe axis of shaft 72. It will be seen that ordinarily, all the partsremain in their assigned position, since the shear pin 62, con nectingsleeve 59 to shaft 61, causes these components to become a rigidconnection between the casting 68 and the motor housing. Therefore, thecasting will not swing upwardly, normally, on an axis defined by the pin54.

If, however, the lower portion of the casting were to strike anunderwater obstruction, the pin 62 will shear, and the casting will nowbe free to swing upwardly, since the shaft 61 will telescope in thesleeve 59.

In Figure 9, a modified mechanism for bringing the drive from a fixedengine 103 shown diagrammatically in the boat, to the outboard drive orlower unit 104 is illustrated. This mechanism includes a telescopingshafting such as aligned shafts 105, 106 and 107, with a universal joint108 between shafts 106 and 107. The shafting passes through a swivel orball and socket joint 109 mounted in an opening in the transom 110. Fromthe joint 109, the drive is brought to the outside by a shaft 111 whichextends into a gear box 113 and is connected to a rotatable shaft 112through gearing in box 113 in the casting.114, shaft 112 driving shaftllz'carrying the propeller 115 by means of intermeshing bevel gears 80and 82. The shaft 111 may be withdrawn from the gear box in case theoutboard drive or lower unit kicks back considerably. Packing-nuts 116may be placed around the shafting at the swivel joint and the top andbottom of the swivel joint may be protected by seals 117.

It will be understood that various modifications can be made in thedevice, and the illustrated structure is merely one example of variousarrangements that could be employed. Instead of a belt and pulley drivemeans, there could be a flexible shaft type of drive. Alternatively,there could be a coupling inboard of the vessel, to a jack shaft, withsaid coupling joining horizontally disposed, coaxially aligned shafts ofthe outboard and inboard units. All these arrangements might beemployed, and the possibility of employment of the same is thought to besufiiciently obvious so as not to cause special illustration.

Further, the entire device could be concealed from view by a suitabledeck covering or the like, overlying the motor and the outboardcomponents of the device. Again, this is thought sufficiently obvious soas to not require illustration herein.

It is mainly important to note that the device meets all theobjectshereinbefore stated, in that it is selfadjusting to differenttransom angles; comprises separate components any of which can bereadily carried from place to place independently of the others; permitsthe repair or replacement of individual components without disturbingthe remaining components; provides for mounting on higher transoms; andat the same time produces a highly compact assembly, considering thefact that the design is inherently adapted to permit outboard motors ofrather substantial power to be employed. This, of course, is desired bymany persons who operate small craft, as is evidenced by the fact thatin recent years, outboard motors have become more and more powerful, andhave been employed on cabin cruisers of substantial size, wherepreviously only inboard motors were used.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiments of myinvention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to theprecise constructions herein disclosed and that various changes andmodifications may be made within the scope of the invention as definedin the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by United States Letters Patent is: V

1. A driving assembly for a small boat comprising a prime mover, meansfor mounting the same inboard of a boat, a propeller assembly carried bysaid means outboard of the boat, and a driving connection between theprime mover and propeller assembly, said means including a bracketdisposed inboard of a boat, said bracket including base members formounting in the bottom of the boat, said means further includingupstanding arms pivotally connected to the base members and adapted toextend upwardly in contact with a boat transom, the pivotal connectionof the arms to the base members providing adjustment of the arms todifierent transom angles.

2. A driving assembly for a small boat comprising a prime mover, meansfor mounting the same inboard of a boat, a propeller assembly carried bysaid means ou-tboard of the boat, and a driving connection between theprime mover and propeller assembly, said means including a bracketdisposed inboard of a boat, said bracket including base members formounting in the bottom of the boat, said means further includingupstanding arms pivotally connected to the base members and adapted toextend upwardly in contact with a boat transom, the pivotal connectionof the arms to the base members permitting adjustment of the arms todifferent transom angles, said means further including clamps connectedto the upper ends of the arms in straddling relation to the transom.

3. Adriving assembly for a small boat comprising a prime mover, meansfor mounting the same inboard of a boat, a propeller assembly carried bysaid means outboard of the boat, and a driving connection between theprime mover and propeller, assembly, said means including a bracketdisposed inboard of a boat, said bracket including base members formounting in the bottom of the boat, said means further includingupstanding arms pivotally connected to the base members and adapted toextend upwardly in contact with a boat transom, the pivotal connectionof the arms to the base members permitting adjustment of the arms todifferent transom angles, said means further including clamps connectedto the upper ends of the arms in straddling relation to the transom, theconnection of the clamps to the arms permitting adjustment of the clampslongitudinally of the arms to selected elevations to accommodate thesame to diiferent transom heights.

4. A driving assembly for a small boat comprising a prime mover, meansfor mounting the same inboard of a boat, a propeller assembly carried bysaid means outboard of the boat,'and a driving connection between theprime mover and propeller assembly, said means including a bracketdisposed inboard of a boat, said bracket including base members formounting in the bottom of the boat, said means further includingupstanding arms pivotally connected to the base members and adapted toextend upwardly in contact with'a boat transom, the pivotal connectionof the arms to the base members permitting adjustment of the arms todifferent transom angles, said means further including clamps connectedto the upper ends of the arms in straddling relation to the transom,said means further including a bracket pivotally depending from theclamp members, the propeller assembly being supported upon thelast-named bracket outboard of the boat.

5. A driving assembly for a small boat comprising a prime mover, meansfor mounting the same inboard of a boat, a propeller assembly carried bysaid means outboard of the boat, and a driving connection between theprime mover and propeller assembly, said means including a bracketdisposed inboard of a boat, said bracket including base members formounting in the bottom of the boat, said means further includingupstanding arms pivotally connected to the base members and adapted toextend upwardly in contact with a boat transom, the pivotal connectionof the arms to the base members permitting adjustment of the arms todifferent transom angles, said means further including clamps connectedto the upper ends of the arms in straddling relation to the transom,said means further including a bracket pivotally connected to the clampmembers, the propeller assembly being supported upon the last-namedbracket outboard of the boat, the propeller assembly being adapted toswing from side to side on the second-named bracket, for steering of theboat.

6. A driving assembly for a small boat comprising a prime mover, meansfor mounting the same inboard of a boat, a propeller assembly carried bysaid means outboard of the boat, and a driving connection between theprime mover and propeller assembly, said means including a bracketdisposed inboard of a boat, said bracket including base members formounting in the bottom of the boa-t, said means further includingupstanding arms pivotally connected to the base members and adapted toextend upwardly in contact with a boat transom, the pivotal connectionof the arms to the base members permitting adjustment of the arms todiflferent transom angles, said means further including clamps connectedto the upper ends of thearms in straddling relation to the transom, saidmeans further including a bracket pivotally connected to the clampmembers, the propeller assembly being swingingly connected to thelast-named 7 8 bracket outboard of the boat, the swingable connectionReferences Cited in the file of this patent of the propeller assembly tothe last-named bracket in- UNITED STATES PATENTS eluding a shaftrotatable in and driving said propeller assembly, the latter shaft beingoperatively connected to svfndsen et 1929 said driving connection so asto be driven thereby, the 5 1780075 Gnffith 1930 propeller assemblyswinging laterally on said last-named shaft for steering the boat, thelast-named shaft being FOREIGN PATENTS iournaledinsaid bracket 3,884Great Britain Feb, 28, 1900

